Assessing the potential of metallic nanocarriers as theranostics for psoriasis management: a comprehensive review

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory and T cell-mediated autoimmune dermal disorder and remains a therapeutic limitation due to its thickened epidermal growth, high keratinocyte differentiation, scaly patches, and dry skin, leading to the failure of conventional treatments. Nanomedicine has shown the potential to improve therapeutic efficacy in psoriatic skin. The metallic nanocarriers such as gold, selenium, silver, zinc, iron, titanium, and copper have currently emerged as promising and highly effective treatment options for psoriasis as they offer several advantages like favorable physicochemical properties, enhanced drug-loading, improved skin penetration, and permeation. Metallic nanocarriers can be functionalized and tailored to specific therapeutic needs, making them highly effective at delivering anti-psoriatic drugs directly to the targeted areas without causing any adverse effects. The gold nanoparticles are known for their high biocompatibility and anti-inflammatory properties, while silver nanoparticles exhibit strong antimicrobial effects that are beneficial in managing psoriatic skin infections. Selenium, zinc, and iron nanoparticles contribute antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits, which are essential in mitigating the reactive oxidative stress, suppressing cytokines, and interleukins inflammatory mediators associated with psoriasis. Through metallic nanoparticles, it is possible to achieve controlled release, which maintains a steady rate of drug diffusion and skin penetration and delivers drugs more precisely, lowering the risk of systemic toxicity and improving patient compliance. This review highlights the potential mechanism and combines recent research based on metallic nanoparticles in advancing psoriasis treatment, offering an effective treatment option over various conventional therapies due to their multifunctionality, safety, and therapeutic efficacy.